The Confrontation of Different Models of Femininity in Contemporary Spanish Cinema Directed by Women (1990-2005)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Title Feminine identity as the site of struggle: The confrontation of different models of femininity in contemporary Spanish cinema directed by women (1990-2005) Name Ana Garcia Lopez This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. Feminine identity as the site of struggle: the confrontation of different models of femininity in contemporary Spanish cinema directed by women (1990-2005) by Ana García-López A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 ABSTRACT The last two decades have witnessed an unprecedented incorporation of women within the Spanish film industry. This is part of a general increase in newcomers since the beginning of the 1990s, when the industry was undergoing a deep restructuring. The media has celebrated this incorporation of women filmmakers, recurrently referring to their different sensibility, a feminine perspective noticeable in their films. Despite the socio-cultural interest of this incorporation, no thorough study of their work has been completed. This research project surveys the extent and scope of these women's incorporation within the industry, and explores the varied ways that their films engage with the main discursive trends that define femininity in Spanish cinema and mass media. Femininity is broadly understood here as the socio-cultural interpretations of what constitutes 'correct womanhood', but, also, discursively: as the space of struggle wherein individual (fictional) women engage with these constructions, by contesting and / or adopting some of their elements. Further attention is given to the ways that these new filmmakers's films engage with traditional and modern formulations of femininity, as articulated in implicit relation to, respectively, Francoism and postfeminism. In the core chapters, several detailed analyses are given of especially relevant films by these women, using a critical discourse analysis approach. These chapters address topics that are foregrounded in these women’s films and that have been central to feminine experience, namely: the family and motherhood, romanticism and sexuality, and the ‘Other’. From the study it emerges that these women’s films adopt a different perspective if only because they often render visible discriminatory behaviours (e.g. discrimination at work) and representational practices (e.g. the sexual objectification of women). Regarding their treatment of the aforementioned ‘feminine themes’ (i.e. family and romanticism), these filmmakers self-consciously engage with the conventions that have constructed femininity in the media. iii CONTENTS List of Illustrations IX Acknowledgements X Introduction 1 Aims and objectives 3 Clarifications and limitations 6 Methodology and structure of the study 9 1 Femininity as discourse: Methodology and Theory 12 1.1. The elusive character of femininity: a revision of its 14 conceptualisations 1.1.1. Femininity and feminism 14 1.1.2. Towards different conceptualisations of femininity 16 1.1.2.a. Femininity as ideology 18 1.1.2.b. Femininity as myth 19 1.1.2.c. Femininity as discourse 20 1.2. Foucauldian Discourse Theory 24 1.2.1. The entangled meaning of discourse 25 1.2.2. The discursive nature of subjectivity and the impetus 30 towards the coherence of identity 1.3. Adapting CDA to the study of fictional texts 35 1.3.1. Stages of the research 37 iv 1.3.2. Key analytical concepts 42 1.3.2.a. Intertextuality 43 1.3.2.b. The rhetorical organisation of the text 45 1.3.c. The truth effects 48 1.3.d. The silences 49 2. Femininity in Spanish media and society 53 2.1. Femininity during Francoism 54 2.1.1. The normative model of femininity 56 2.1.2. Towards the dissolution of Francoist femininity 60 2.2. Women in Spain today: a sociological overview 63 2.3. Femininity in contemporary media 68 2.3.1. The cohabitation of new and traditional models of 70 femininity 2.3.2. Postfeminist femininities: international normative 75 models for new women? 2.3.3. Arguments for and against Spanish postfeminist 86 femininities 2.3.3.a. Similarities 87 2.3.3.b. Differences 89 2.3.3.c. Towards a tentative conclusion 94 3 The cinema of the Joven Cine Español and its industrial 99 context 3.1. Brief historical overview of the representations of women in 100 Spanish cinema since the 1940s 3.2. The Spanish cinema of the 1990s: Institutional and industrial 107 context v 3.2.1. Institutional and industrial settings 108 3.2.2. The relationship between television and cinema 111 3.2.3. The end of the crisis? 114 3.3. The cinema of the new generation of filmmakers (JCE) 116 3.3.1. Cinematic tendencies 119 3.3.2. Themes, characters and styles 128 3.3.3. Portraying women 131 4. Women filmmakers for the Joven Cine Español (MJCE) 136 4.1. Position within the industry 137 4.2. Characteristics of their work 144 4.2.1. Stylistic characteristics 144 4.2.2. Characters and themes 147 4.3. Feminine and Feminist cinema 153 4.3.1. Issues around labels 153 4.3.2. Defining a ‘feminine perspective’ 158 4.3.3. A feminist perspective? 162 5. ‘Home is where the heart is’…But where is home? 166 Constructing new families, portraying motherhood 5.1. Family 167 5.1.1. Me llamo Sara (Dolores Payás, 1998): Alternative 171 families for the modern woman 5.2. Exploring motherhood and the relationship with the mother 184 5.2.1. Elena Dimitrevna Diakanova: Gala (Silvia Munt, 2003): 192 Searching for alternative historical models of femininity vi 6 Matters of the heart: sexuality and love 198 6.1. Sex and sexuality 198 6.2. Engaging with the romantic discourse 203 6.3. Te doy mis ojos (Icíar Bollaín, 2003) 206 6.3.1. Narrative and character description 209 6.3.2. Models of femininity 214 6.3.3. The dangers of the romantic discourse 220 6.3.4. Conclusions 227 7 Engaging with the Other: the lesbian woman, the 233 immigrant subject and men 7.1. The immigrant Other: Poniente (Chus Gutiérrez, 2003) 237 7.2. The lesbian Other: Costa Brava (Family Album) (Marta 246 Balletbò-Coll, 1995) 7.3. The gendered Other: Puede ser divertido (Azucena 256 Rodríguez, 1995) Conclusions 264 The position of women within the industry 266 Interrogation of socio-cultural and cinematic conventions and 269 engagement with socio-cultural changes Types of femininities and subjectivities privileged 274 Feminist and feminine perspectives 277 Notes 283 List of references 318 vii Appendix 1: List of MJCE films 343 Appendix 2: Other Spanish films mentioned 352 Appendix 3: Foreign films mentioned 356 Appendix 4: Television series mentioned 357 Appendix 5: Glossary 359 LIST OF SPECIFIC ABBREVIATION CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis JCE: Joven Cine Español MJCE: Mujeres del Joven Cine Español viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 6.1 ‘La Dolorosa’ 230 Te doy mis ojos (Icíar Bollaín, 2003) 6.2. Pilar and Danae 230 6.3. Pilar and Antonio´s first meeting 231 6.4. Promotional Poster 231 6.5. The decorative plate 231 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who have, in different ways, supported and encouraged me in the course of this research project. I would like to thank, firstly, all at the University of Bedfordshire, especially everyone at RIMAD. I would like to thank my supervisor, Carlota Larrea, for her years of support and advice, and for keeping her faith in this project, even when mine was wavering. Thanks are also due to Claire Walsh for her helpful feedback on chapter 1. For an early conference paper on the status of gender studies in Spain, I contacted several professionals who, very kindly, provided me with all that I needed. For materials and information, I would like to thank the groups Seminari d'Investigació Feminista, at Universidad Jaume I de Castellón, and Dones I Textualitat, especially Meri Torras, at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. For information and advice, I am further indebted to Jacqueline Cruz, María José Gámez Fuentes, Pilar Aguilar and María Suárez Lafuente. Finally, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all my family and friends in both Spain and England for all their support and encouragement, and for tolerating my endless elaborations and refinements of this thesis. Thanks especially to Toby Dyter for his support, his careful reading of this text, and his editing of my less-than-perfect prepositions. Needless to say, however, the responsibility for any remaining errors is mine alone. x INTRODUCTION Identity and gender are two key concepts in contemporary cultural debates in the West, and Spain is not an exception but an exaggerated case. With the speed of changes that followed the end of Franco’s dictatorship, the re-drafting of Spanish national identities became a central concern of both political debates and cultural manifestations. To a lesser extent, gender identity was also an issue, especially as changes in the situation of women came to deeply transform cultural and social ideas about femininity (broadly understood as personal and cultural interpretations and manifestations of what constitutes ‘performing womanhood correctly’). The 1990s period, with which this study of the films of contemporary Spanish women filmmakers is concerned, stands as a decade of consolidation for democracy and of the rights and situation of women. By many socio-political and cultural accounts, the 1990s were constructed in relation to the previous decade1. If 1992 is often taken as a landmark and a symbol of the 1990s, 1982 marks, for many, the beginning of a new period, since it stands as the end year of the Spanish transitional period from dictatorship to democracy.